A spherical actuator is a novel electric device that can achieve 2/3-DOF
rotational motions in a single joint with electric power input. It has
advantages such as compact structure, low mass/moment of inertia, fast
response and non-singularities within the workspace. It has promising
applications in robotics, automobile, manufacturing, medicine and
aerospace industry.
This is the first monograph that introduces the research on spherical
actuators systematically. It broadens the scope of actuators from
conventional single-axis to multi-axis, which will help both beginners
and researchers to enhance their knowledge on electromagnetic actuators.
Generic analytic modeling methods for magnetic field and torque output
are developed, which can be applied to the development of other
electromagnetic actuators. A parametric design methodology that allows
fast analysis and design of spherical actuators for various applications
is proposed. A novel non-contact high-precision 3-DOF spherical motion
sensing methodology is developed and evaluated with experiments, which
shows that it can achieve one order of magnitude higher precision than
conventional methods. The technologies of nondimensionalization and
normalization are introduced into magnetic field analysis the first
time, and a benchmark database is established for the reference of other
researches on spherical actuators.
